ASSESSMENT OF FLOW PATTERNS AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN NILE RIVER BENDS, CASE STUDY: DAMIETTA BRANCH

Abstract

The river's bends are a major feature of rivers as a result of their hydraulic and morphological characteristics where the flow pattern has a three-dimensional (3D) nature. The aim of this research is to study the flow pattern-induced morphological changes in river bends and evaluation of secondary currents in the different scenarios of flow. Twenty bends in the Damietta branch (Nile River) in Egypt were selected where the study was done by conducting a bathymetric survey and 3D velocity measurements by an ADCP. A numerical model (Delft 3D) was applied to simulate the study reach. Also, a Geographic information system (GIS) was used to analyze the morphological changes and bend scour depths. Four equations were selected for predicting bend scour depths and the results showed that these equations are not reliable in the study reach. Therefore, a new equation was derived to applied in the Nile River.